Workers injured at Michigan City data center site

For about five weeks, Michael Grace has been without an income source. He’s watched his funds deplete as his needs continue to grow, struggling to pay for cat food, laundry detergent and his phone bill.

Grace can’t work, and he doesn’t know when he will work next.

“It’s my neck, between my shoulder blades and my lower back,” Grace, a Michigan City resident, said. “I mean, I’m in extreme pain.”

Grace said he was injured at the Project Maize data center site in Michigan City on Dec. 16, 2025, when an end dump trailer bed flipped on its side with him inside the cab. A nearby bulldozer was overloaded with earth and asphalt and caused his machine to roll.

He laid on the ground for 45 minutes, waiting for workers to notice him, telling them on his walkie talkie that he was stuck, Grace said. Once a worker came to help, Grace was “rocked around in the cab” again, making his injuries worse.

“I waited for 45 minutes,” Grace said. “All these people were just standing around there, and then they scattered like ants. … At other sites I’ve worked at, we would always stop and help someone out.”

Grace was a non-union worker for Project Maize and said he doesn’t want to return once healed. He believes no one on-site reported the injury, even though he went to an emergency room for care afterwards.

Grace submitted a complaint to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Dec. 17, according to an email he sent to the Post-Tribune. The complaint is still pending.

The Michigan City resident has also asked Local 150, the International Union of Operating Engineers, for help. Grace is also in contact with other Michigan City residents, including Eileen Mark and Ashley Williams, executive director of Just Transition Northwest Indiana, who found Grace through Facebook.

“I think it’s an outrage,” Mark said. “It makes me angry. This is just a symptom of this nefarious data center project that shouldn’t even be in our community as far as I’m concerned.”

Grace hasn’t yet received workers’ compensation, and he doesn’t know why. Since he cannot work, Grace has created a GoFundMe to try to raise money.

“That would get me by,” Grace said. “I mean, I need laundry detergent, I need food for my cat. … I don’t have a family. … I go to sleep at night, and if I move the wrong way, I’m up because of the pain.”

Grace’s injury is not an isolated incident at the Project Maize site. According to a news release from Local 150, on Oct. 9, a worker allegedly fell from a roof and struck his head.

Multiple Michigan City residents have expressed concerns with workers’ safety at the site since the Oct. 9 incident.

“I’m infuriated that justice is not being served to this community and the workers that are building this data center,” Williams said. “It shows that our lives are disposable. This is par for the course after what we’ve seen with such a bad actor, and really at this point, it’s proven. We saw this coming.”

The Post-Tribune obtained body camera footage from the Michigan City police officers at the Project Maize jobsite after the Oct. 9 incident. Officers arrived after 9 p.m. Oct. 9.

In the footage, multiple Michigan City officers are talking to workers at the job site, before entering a building to speak with security personnel.

“That’s Google money right there,” someone said to the security officer, even though the data center end user has yet to be announced.

In the body camera footage, a security officer shows the police footage of the Oct. 9 incident, where they see a man fall onto the ground, but the roof he fell off is not shown.

“He’s still moving,” someone said after watching the security video.

Later in the video, a group of workers are seen coming to the man’s aid, and he is carried off. When officers arrived at the worksite, before viewing the security video, a worker told them that the man who fell had left the site. It is alleged that fellow workers took him to an unnamed hospital.

Three officers are also seen talking in the video, saying they will alert dispatchers. Officers also said they believe that some workers at the site were undocumented immigrants.

When the footage starts, an unidentified worker also insinuated that some worksite employees were undocumented immigrants.

The security officer told police that he didn’t know if all workers were accounted for.

Councilman Vidya Kora, D-at large, at the Michigan City Common Council’s Tuesday meeting, asked representatives from Phoenix Construction to address safety concerns at the Project Maize site. The council’s meetings are livestreamed on Facebook through the Access LaPorte County page.

William Shroyer, Phoenix Construction’s representative, said at the meeting that a subcontractor at the Project Maize site fell 28 feet from a facility roof and was transported to a local hospital for evaluation before being released that evening. Shroyer did not say which local hospital.

The incident was well-documented and reported in accordance with workplace safety requirements, Shroyer said, and Phoenix “cooperated fully” with OSHA.

“Phoenix Construction also engaged an independent third-party safety and risk firm to conduct an additional assessment,” Shroyer said. “There have been some public statements and rumors regarding this event that do not accurately reflect the information reviewed by regulatory authorities. … Phoenix Construction remains committed to maintaining a safe and compliant worksite and will continue to cooperate with local officials and regulatory agencies to ensure projects in Michigan City are developed responsibly.”

Kora told Shroyer that although Project Maize isn’t a city project, the council members hear from constituents about it frequently, and he’d appreciate monthly updates to the council. Other council members said they don’t think monthly updates would be necessary, but Phoenix Construction could let the mayor know and updates could be put online.

“You can either come up here or issue some press statements and update the community on what’s going on, and be as transparent as possible,” Kora said. “It’s in the best interest of everybody. It’s in the best interest of our community, and it’s in the best interest of your business.”

Councilman Donald Przybylinski, D-at large, asked Shroyer about some resident concerns, including that the worker, on Oct. 9 who was transported to the hospital by his coworkers. Shroyer confirmed that happened, saying it “seemed like the best option at the moment.”

“In my estimation, I wouldn’t have done that,” Przybylinski said. “You generally call an ambulance when you have a major OSHA accident like that. … That’s pretty serious. And to just put someone in the backseat of a car and say, ‘OK, let’s take him to the hospital,’ I don’t feel good about it.”

Przybylinski also asked Phoenix Construction about its specific protocol when accidents occur, but Shroyer was unable to answer because the Oct. 9 incident was still a pending investigation.

A representative for Phoenix Construction responded to the workplace safety concerns in a Friday email to the Post-Tribune.

“The incident was documented and reported in accordance with applicable safety requirements,” the email said. “Phoenix Construction cooperated fully with (OSHA) and engaged an independent third-party safety firm to conduct an additional review.”

Phoenix Construction’s email also said that there have been no reports of Grace’s incident.

“With respect to claims regarding an alleged December 16 incident, there have been no reported incidents on site involving heavy equipment falling, rolling or otherwise coming into contact with any workers.”

The company also said it values workplace safety at all its construction jobsites.

“Phoenix Construction works with both union and non-union subcontractors based on project needs, and all workers on site are required to meet the same safety, training, and compliance standards,” the statement said. “Phoenix Construction remains committed to maintaining a safe and compliant worksite and will continue to cooperate with regulatory authorities.”

Local 150 Financial Secretary David Fagan told the Post-Tribune that the union is concerned that workplace injuries have occurred at the Project Maize site. The union has seen police body camera footage from the incident, Fagan said, which he believes makes it obvious that the worker sustained a “serious injury.”

Fagan also said, from the Oct. 9 video, it’s unclear whether the injured worker received medical treatment.

“We don’t know what’s true, what’s not true, but I think, from anyone’s perspective, knowing that someone may not have received medical treatment, is an injustice to everyone and anyone on a construction site,” Fagan said. “Regardless of our concerns and issues with the project, workers, regardless who they are, need to be respected, and if they’re injured, they need to receive the appropriate treatment.”

Local 150 representatives have reached out to OSHA about the Oct. 9 incident, and the workplace safety agency allegedly told the union that no evidence indicates that the employee struck their head during the fall, and no evidence supports that medical protocols weren’t handled in an appropriate manner.

The workplace agency allegedly also told Local 150 representatives that it found that the employer did not evaluate working surfaces appropriately, Fagan said, and a citation was issued.

Fagan would like to ensure that appropriate resources are used to ensure worksite safety and that workers on-site receive the appropriate safety training, he said.

Fagan heard that Grace had been injured at the Project Maize site and was unable to work. Construction workers throughout Northwest Indiana spend “a lot of time” dedicated to learning about worksite safety because the industry is dangerous, he said.

“Accidents will happen,” Fagan said. “But how do you respond to those accidents? And what you do to minimize those accidents makes all the difference in the world, and just from my perspective, I don’t see that happening in Michigan City.”

Fagan encourages anyone concerned with Project Maize’s worksite safety to talk to local and state officials.

According to Post-Tribune archives, Fagan said union members met with Phoenix Investors on Aug. 29, and were told the company would make no commitment on who they’d hire for Project Maize. The union and Michigan City residents have expressed concerns that out-of-state, non-union workers, rather than local union workers.

“Indiana tax dollars are supporting these major projects,” Fagan said. “Then the workforce is coming from out-of-state places like Mississippi and Alabama, and you don’t really know the history of these companies. Quite frankly, it undermines the economic value of these projects to the community when the local workforce is not included.”

The Michigan City Common Council, in September, passed four resolutions that would allow the construction of a more than $800 million data center at 402 Royal Road, according to Post-Tribune archives. The resolutions provided multiple tax abatements, designated the area as an economic revitalization area and approved a taxpayer agreement for Project Maize.

The data center end user has yet to be announced, but residents suspect it to be Google.

Project Maize is a private project, and Michigan City leadership isn’t involved with the construction, Kelley Smith, administrator for the Michigan City Mayor’s Office, previously told the Post-Tribune. The mayor’s office was unable to immediately respond to a request for comment about worksite safety concerns.

mwilkins@chicagotribune.com